Censorship comes in many forms these days–newspapers, reporters and entire networks bend to the requests of public officials to change their coverage. Certain words are removed from government websites, and informational placards are changed or entirely removed in public parks and museums. Libraries, especially school libraries, have faced record numbers of book challenges in recent years.
All of this creates an ideal context for the play “The Banned Book Librarian of the Midwest,” which plays on the Jerome Stage at the Unicorn Theater as part of the KC Fringe Festival.
The play opens with a librarian, Kate, returning home with a bag full of books. Her library is closed, because–according to the government–90 percent of the books were obscene.
The ban on the possession and distribution of books does not stop the intrepid librarian. When a student turns up to check on her, she replies he will get in trouble with his mother for being there and sends him home with an illicit book hidden in his bag. She presents him with “The Giver,” which she recalls his mother found frightening when she was in high school.
In episodic form, the play reveals Kate in possession of another bag of books each time she appears. Conflict with her initially supportive spouse arises as she goes on the run, wanted for possessing and distributing books. The student is detained and tortured until he betrays her.
Under arrest, the librarian defiantly quotes Ray Bradbury’s classic novel about censorship, “Fahrenheit 451.”
The play teaches a vital lesson to all who value free speech. See it Saturday, July 26 at 7:30 PM on the Jerome stage at the Unicorn Theater, then read Bradbury’s book before the play and the novel have a chance to come true.
